Nichirin's Jay Howard put the clamps on the Marshall Medical Center (MMC) offense in the early game Thursday, tossing a three-hit, 10-strikeout gem to lead his team to an 8-1 win.

Howard walked three in his five innings of work before Josh McKnight came to the hill in the sixth and struck out the side to end the contest.

The only run off Howard came via an Ethan Poteete RBI base knock that drove in Nate Huitt in the third inning.

Full game

Poteete went the distance on the hill for MMC, giving up five earned runs on six hits, while striking out 10 and, walking five, and beaning one Nichirin batter.

With the win, Nichirin (5-3) remained two games back of the first place Elks (7-1), while MMC dropped into a third place tie with A-Plus Collision Center as both squads sport identical 2-6 records in league play.

Nichirin tallied an unearned run in the first inning on zero hits off Poteete, but came back with three earned runs in the top of the second on a base on balls RBI by Denver Kelley before back-to-back RBI fielder's choices by Peete and Howard.

Poteete drove home his run in the bottom of the inning and an RBI hit by Kelley in the fourth made it a 5-1 ballgame.

Runs keep coming

Stuart Warner tripled with one down in the fifth for Nichirin and came home three batters later on a wild pickoff attempt, opening up a five-run gap at 6-1.

Nichirin notched their final two runs on a two-run single by Peete in the sixth before McKnight came in to strike out the side to close the game.

Peete (1-3, RS, 3RBIs), Howard (1-4, RBI), Warner (1-3, 3B, HBP, RS), Hunter Bradford (1-3, 3RS), Chase Karaczewski (1-2, RS), and Kelley (1-2, 2RBIs) all had one apiece for Nichirin.

Huitt (1-2, RS, BB, SB), Poteete (1-2, RS), and Knox Barnes (1-3, 3B) all had one base knock each off Howard in the game.